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The way plea bargain offers are presented to criminal defendants needs to change.

Failure to do so could result in the state and federal court systems getting flooded with appeals from convicted defendants claiming incompetent assistance from their legal counsel.

Plea bargains are crucial to the criminal justice system. Without them, court dockets would be backed up for years; there are not enough judges to hear all the cases.

About 97 percent of the convictions in federal court and 94 percent of the convictions in state court are the result of a plea bargain, the New York Times reported.

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling last week that expanded the rights of criminal defendants in plea bargains could have a major impact on appeals unless changes are made in way they are handled in the courtroom.

The court in a 5-4 vote ruled that defense lawyers must effectively inform and advise their clients about pleas bargains under the Sixth Amendment, which provides for the right to the assistance of counsel.

A major problem anticipated as a result of the new court ruling is how to cope with defendants' allegations that they had bad legal advice.

The conversations between criminal defendants their lawyers are privileged; they cannot be monitored and they cannot be recorded by a third party. There is no way for anyone else to know what conversations the two had about any plea bargain offered by prosecutors or if such a conversation even took place.

In the opinion written for the high court majority, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy suggested that plea offers be in writing or open court.

That extra step would take a bit more of the court's time, but it could significantly reduce appeals later.